Assembly voting-machine.



F. L. DYER. ASSEMBLY VOTING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED FEB- 2,1915- 1,230,880. Patented June 26, 1917.

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ASSEMBLY VOTING MACHINE.

APPLICATIGN FILED FEB. 2. I915.

Patented June 26, 1917.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2- Inventpr 4c f. fi

Witnesses z m: mm: run: on. momuruo. wunmomu, o. c.

F. L. DYER.

ASSEMBLY VOTING MACHINE.

APPUCATION HLED FEB- 2.1915- 1,230,880. Patented J une 26, 1917.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

m;- NuR'PI: Fifth! coJl-Homurua. WASHINGTON. 0 z;

FRANK L. DYER, OF MONTGLAIR, NEW JERSEY.

ASSEMBLY VOTING-MACHINE.

Specification of Letters Patent. Patented J 11116 26, 1917.

Application filed February 2, 1915. Serial No.5,601.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FRANK L. DYER, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Montclair, county of Essex, and State of New Jersey, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in AssemblyVoting-Machines, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in assembly voting machines of the type disclosed and claimed by me in Patent No. 701,314, dated June 3, 1902, and by means of which I enlarge the scope and improve the operation of the apparatus.

WVith the apparatus disclosed in my patent I made use of a transmitter located at each members desk, or adjacent to his seat, by means of which one or the other of two circuits could be closed corresponding to the two votes Yesor No. To prevent improper or fraudulent voting I constructed each transmitter so that it'could only be operated by a special key. The registering apparatus of the machine shown in my patent comprised a printing device employing two rows of printing plates corresponding to themembers names alphabetically arranged. A number of contact plates were employed with respect to which a contact device wa moved at a speed corresponding to the movement of the type carrier, so that when the contact device reached the series of plates corresponding with the transmitter of a particular member, that members. name will be 1n printing position. I made use of two printing frames adapted to engage the paper with one or the other of the printing plates, so that the members name will be printed on the yes list or no list, according to the vote. These printing frames were actuated by a reciprocating tongue which, by means of a polarized magnet, was moved to one side or the other to engage the desired printing frame. The closing of the circuit at the receiving device actedto send a return signal to the transmitter by which the member would know that his vote had been received. With the patented apparatus I also made use of a totalizing device to totalize the individual aflirmative and negative votes. My present invention is a further, im provement on the device of my patent in two essential respects, viz:

First: I have so modified the apparatus that without departing from the principles of the patented machine it will result in the production of five complete lists of names, alphabetically arranged, corresponding, first, to those voting affirmatively, second, to those voting negatively, third, to those voting Present,

all, thus taking care of the entire membership of the legislative body.

Second: I provide the apparatus with one fourth, to those voting i Paired, and finally to those not voting at or more charts or indicators, each compris cloak room or elsewhere, or they may be made large enough so that when placed on the wall of the legislative chamber they may be observed by all the members, who will be informed how each member is voting. Of

course, the apparatus is of such a character that before a vote has been recorded and totalized it may be changed by the member.

As a practical matter I prefer to arrange the names of the members on each chart or indicator according to the several political parties, the members of one political party being grouped alphabetically and those of the opposing or other political parties being correspondingly grouped alphabetically. Therefore, when the members have voted, the leader of any particular party may observe at a glance whether his followers are voting with the party or not,

with the possibility that before the vote is recorded and totalized any member not voting with his party may be persuaded to change his vote. It will, of course, be understood, however, that the names on each chart or indicator may be arranged alphabetically as a whole without respect to parties.

In order that the invention may be better understood attention is directed to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, in which:

Figure 1 is a diagrammatic view showing two of the transmitters and also two of the signals corresponding to these transmitting stations on one of the charts, and such of the recording apparatus as is necessary to take care of the two transmitters shown.

Forsake of clearness I have not illustrated the totalizers, which are preferably arranged, as disclosed 1n my patent, so as to be actuated concurrently with the printing [the arrow looking toward the front of the transmitter;

Fig 7 is a detail perspective, view showing the contact disk in the transmitter;

3 Fig. 8 is a frontview of one of the polar- .ized magnets preferably used in the transmitter, and Fig. 9 a plan view of a portion of one of the charts or indicators illustrating its division in three alphabetical groups each representing a political party.

In the above views corresponding parts are represented by the same reference numerals.

Attention is first directed to the diagram which, while not showing all the circuits, is sufliciently full to illustrate the principle of the invention. It shows two transmitting stations A and B, corresponding to two members. Of course, with a body as large as the National House of Representatives there would be over four hundred of these stations, each located adjacent to the members seat.

I show at each station five contacts, 1, 2, 3, 4t and 5, corresponding to Not voting, Aye,, No, Present and Paired. I show a contact arm 6 normally on the contact 1 but adapted to be moved successively into engagement with any one of the other contacts and be locked in such position.

For the purpose of clearness the diagram shows a contact arm 6 which moves into engagement with successive contact plates, but with the actual device, as will be presently described, I make use of five contact arms with which a single contact plate is adapted to successively engage. The circuits from the contact plates 1 to 5, respectively, at the station A, lead to a line of indicators C, and the corresponding circuits at the station 13 lead to a line of indicators D. These indicators are preferably small electric lamps and there is a common return circuit 7 to the source of supply 8. The indicators C and D comprise the chart or indicator re ferred to, any number of which may be used, and in practice each line of indicators 0, D, etc., will be marked with the members name. Preferably if lamps are used they will be of different colors, for instance, those yellow lights.

A portion of one of these charts is shown in Fig. 9 where three alphabetical groups are shown each representing a political party and in which the colored lights indieating theindivic'lual votes are represented by X.

Theswitch 9 is adapted to close a circuit from a common return 10 from all of the transmitter stations to the source of current ,8. '.l -herefore, when this switch is in the position shown in Fig. 1 the red lights corresponding to all the stations will be illuminated. If member at station A, for example, votes affirmatively thefwhite light on the corresponding indicator will be illumi nated. Thus the indicators will give an immediate visual indication of each vote. Leading off fromthe circuits from each indicator are circuits 11 extending to the contact plates 12 of the recording apparatus. A contact device 13 sweeps across the circuits 1-2 as disclosed in my said patent. Instead of using two printing frames to print two lists of votes, I make use of five printing frames, printing five lists of votes, and each pllflt-lng frame is controlled by a magnet 14 which will be selected by the member at his transmitting'station, so that the name will be printed in the desired list. The arrangement shown in Fig. 1, therefore, is identical, except as to details, with the general system shown in my patent, with the exception that I illustrate an indicating device or chart to indicate visually how each member is voting, and also show five controlling magnets instead of two controlling magnets, or a single polarized magnet for controlling two printing frames, so that I print five complete lists instead of two lists as disclosed my said patent.

Referring now to Figs. 2 to 8 inclusive, 15 represents'a casing containing the transmitting devices. Mounted therein is a lock barrel 16, preferably a Yale lock, carrying a pointer 17 adapted to move with respect to the indications Not voting, Yes, No, Present and Paired appearing on the face of the casing so as to guide the member in determining how far to turn the lock barrel to vote as he desires. The lock barrel carries a gear 18 on its inner end which meshes with a gear 19 loosely mounted on the shaft 20. The gear 19 carries a pin 21 which engages with an arm 22, so that when the lock barrel is turned in one direction the pinengaging the arm 22 will move the shaft 20 for a part of a revolution, but when the lock barrel is moved in the opposite direction to withdraw the key, the

pin 21 will move away-from the.arm;22.so as -to leavetheshaft 20 in-its lockedgposi-v ,tion. 1 The shaft; 20;carries.a --toothed wheel 23; having five teeth-(see. Fig. 5) correspond ing to the five positions, andwith which the tooth 24; on the armature 25,ofaa .polarized magnet 26: engages, The polarized magnet 26:15 provided witha yoke 27-,having for: wardly extending 'pole. pieces .28.-Ebetween which. the armature 25;is mounted, as shown in Fig. 8, so that the-armature will be polarized ,and hence will-respond ,to gcnrrentsj of n P r ty, .I u "no t urre ts.e the opposite polarity; Cooperatingwith. ,each armature isa latch 2Q havingafingen 30. .50 arr e t a when; t emature 2. .1: a t d: o .with wtm to th; 2 ,frcm .on of :the teeth of the .toothedJwheel-23- the ma e i will b l c ed behind. th ger 30 so as to .hold the. tooth 24:; away, from the toothed wheel-land .the'refore permit -the o h Wh t -m QtQ he. return-p s tio A pin 31 on the toothed wheel 23 .engages the tail32 of the latch: 29, so as .toiorce: the latch downwardly. just as the toothed wheel approaches its backward position, sogas-to withdraw :the finger; .30 from the end of the t re. 5 a d Pe itthe rm re; to ab e W he. tooth an, eng ge ment with. the first. tooth ofthe toothed wheel. 23, corresponding gto, the] ENot voting position The gear l9 engages a pinion "33: mounted on a shaft 34 and adapted ;to drive an escape wheel 35 through a ratchet and pawl 36, as shown in Fig.6. qfllhepartsareso arranged that when the lock barrel is turned to move the shaft 20 into.t he desired voting position the. gear 19 rotating the pinion 33 will move the pawl with respeotlto the ratchet'so as not to turn the escape wheel 35, When, however, the shaft 20, is released, as will he explained, the pawlwill engage the ratchet andthe escape wheelfwillbe turned, operating theescapement 37 andcansing the return movement of tl1e.sh aft,.20 .to be retarded, permitting of a gradualreturn of the parts to their original position. v

A spring 38 on the shaft 20 is wound up when the shaft is advanced, and its tension returns the shaft to its normal position when the shaft is released. The tailoffthe escape ment 37 works incloseproximity toabrake magnet 39, so. thatwhen the magnet is en-, ergized it will; lock the escapement and pre vent'the parts from moving... When, how ever, the magnetis not energized, the escapement can vibrate freely to allowythe parts to slowly return to their originalposition. The magnets 263 116.: 39 at each transmitting stationare arranged in series, as shown in On, the shaft 20 is aninsulating disk 40 carryinga single contact 4:1 ,whichis connected to a collecting ring .(s ee Fig.7) with .5. 3 f i n bfth e a edaby a gl w nd w .5 56, nfirmin he rot t a the mem erides resita mnsmit-= T In order ."to ro-set the apparatus, s0 as to re a corr ction A S-th ro Small Qt7o n t e; fr n o he as mounted' onga shaft 4c8. fThi slever .is pro- Yi e w th a cam wh gag ,.t il 5Q of the armature ,125, so that when the lave 1.447 .a pemte t t l w h raw t e tooth. 24; from. the -toothed. wheel' 23 and thereby, .release, the toothed-wheel so. as to Perm t. th sha -20. o. r tu n t its gin l position. {lhe shaft;4:8 ,is alsoprovided with a 51 gengaging a circuit.- spring @2. so as t @108? asir i .3 (s F t thereby short-circuit thegbrake magnet 39'." To actuat t e: P inting 2 or i ,d i a he 12 ne ize e d ds ting m not 14 ,vvhioh selects the proper printing frame to print; the membersname in the de siredilist, I nse abatteryor other source of supply,,54r,; withwhich the switch :9 cooperates.; As shown, thetwo'sources of supply are arranged ,with opposite polarities presented to the polarized vmagnets 26. so that when the current from the battery. .8 flows through the magnetl26 the armature 25 wi1l not be attracted, but will. be .free to engage the toothed wheel 23 tolockthe samein any desiredgposition. 5 After all the members have voted and theswitch-fliis moved. to the other contact so as to connect the battery 54@ with thetransmitting stations, 'the' cnrrent from the, battery 56L .will energize :the polarized magnets 26; so lasto-attract the armature when the current collecting device13 reaches.

the desiredflset 5 of plates 12 corresponding to each station. In operation, when a member desiresto vote he insertszhis key in the lock 16 andturns it. to. the required position. If.

. intends to have recorded. If the member desires tochange his 'votehe actuates the small lever l7 and-the cameiQ-withdraws the tooth 24: of the armature 25' aw-ayfrom the toothed-disk 23, so as to release the-shaft 20; The spring 38 returns the shaft to its normal position,.a' stop (not shown) limiting this movement:

In order to preventthebraking magnet39 from locking the shaft 20during' the resetting operation, at a: midway position when the contact 41 passes into engagement with one of the contact springs 43', I use the 'cam 51, actuating the contacts 52 so I as to short, circuit the brakingmagnet during this re turn movement: After all the members have votedithe switch 9is operated so -as-to cut out all-the indicators and connect the transmitting, stations with-the receiving de-' vice. When the collecting-device 13 of'tlie receiver engages the line of "contrct plates- '12 corresponding with anyparticular-transmitter it'closes the circuit to the desired' selects ing magnet 14:, which determinesthe partie ula-r list in which the member-s name is-to be printedi The closing-of this-circuit ener= gizes the magnet 26 and 'witlidraws-the tooth 24: from the toothed wheel '23-, and'themag net 26 will be locked in its withdrawn-posh tion bythetooth 30' ofthe lat'ch'29. The shaft, however; will not immediately'return because the brake-magnet 39will be ener gized and the escapement 37 will holdthe shaft 20 from rotating: When, however, the contact device l3has passed out'of-contact with the line of contact plates corresponding to the particular transmitting station under consideration, sons to break th'ecircuittothe magnet 39' -and thereby free the shaft 20,

the spring 38 will return the shaft slowl'y'to its original position. Near-the end of'this movement the pin 31 engages the tail 32 of the latch 29 so asto free the armature 25, which will again be moved-in contact with the toothed wheel 23 ready for the next op oration. The return of-the shaft/20 toits original position will bring the words-Not voting opposite the opening 45,- so that-the member will know that his vote has been received. It will 'be observed thatif a mem berdoes not vote, so that the apparatus-will notbe actuated, the tooth 2will remain in engagement with the'first tooth of "the wheel 23, and the contact 41 will remain in engagement with the lowercontact43, circuit with the particular selector'magnet l i cor responding with the Notvoting list, so. that the members name will be'printed in the list of-Notvoting.

As a matterof practical convenience, I

prefer to equip the apparatus witha-switch igeso'gsso board (notshown)l somewhat like the switchboard of a; telephone exchange, located in the circuits leading to the indicators 1, D; etc, and the recording device,- for instance, in the position S in dotted lines, Fig. 1; The circuits leading from each transmitten-will be carried in aflexible connection at'the switchboard, provided with a five circuit'- jack-switch as in telephone practice and the circuits leading j to the indicators and recording device will extend from the switchboardso that? anydesired jack-switch may makecontact with the circuits leading to any particular" set of indicating devices and the "corresponding-"set of contact plates of the recording mechanism. In this way, should any "member change his seat or desk, his transmitter 'canbe readily connected to the circuits corresponding to his indicating devices-and to his position on the recording device, without a general upsetting of the circuit connections'as would otherwise be the case.

-Having-now described my invention, what I claim as new-and desire "to secure by Letters- Patent; is: v

1. In'an assembly voting-machine, a plurality oftransm'itters, asingle recording devicearran 'ed -to make a'record determined byjth'6p0S1tlOI1- 0f the several transmitters, a chart connected with the several transmitters, designed to give a visual indication of thevote beforethe same is recorded, and a single switch for simultaneously connecting-ordisconnecting all the transmitting stations with the said chart, substantially as set forth. Y

2'. In anassembly votingmachine, a plura'lity of transmitters, a single recording device arranged to make a record determined by the-position of the several transmitters, a chart"connected'with the several transmitters, designed to give a visual indication of the vote before 'thesame is recorded, and a single switch-for simultaneously connecting ordisconnecting all the transmitting stations with-the said chart, and for simultaneously connecting all the transmitting stations-in operative relation to the recording device, substantially as set forth.

3.- In" an" assembly voting apparatus of the type described, a recording device, a transmitting apparatus adapted to close any one of successive circuits by a single movementinone direction, means for locking the transmitting device in its set position, and means for releasing the same simultaneously with the recording of the vote, substantially as set forth.

4. In an assembly votingapparatus of the set position, means for releasin the same simultaneously with the recordlng of the vote, and means for retarding the return movement of the contact device, substantially as set forth.

5. In an assembly voting apparatus of the type described, a recording device, a transmitting apparatus adapted to close anyone of successive circuits by a single movement in one direction, means for locking the transmitting device in its set position, and means for sending a return signal to the transmitting device, simultaneously with the recording of the vote, substantially as set forth.

6. In assembly voting apparatus of the type described, a transmitter adapted to close any one of successive circuits, a polarized magnet controlling the release of the circuit closing device, a chart for giving a visual indication of the vote, a recording apparatus, and a source of polarized current whereby when the chart is in circuit with the polarized magnet the latter is inoperative and when the circuit to the recording apparatus is closed through the polarized magnet the latter will be operated to release the circuit closing device,substantially as set forth.

This specification signed and witnessed this 30th day of January, 1915. 4

FRANK L. DYER. Witnesses: 1

ANNA E. BENTON, HARRY Pros'r.

Copies 01 this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the "Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. 0. 

